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Simon says:"Colour Me Authentic"

Publisher's Summary

An ingenious thriller in which young Detective Constable Trave uncovers a sophisticated plot at the heart of MI6 to assassinate Churchill and bring the Second World War and the whole Allied effort to an untimely end.

It’s 1940, and Bill Trave is a Detective Constable in his early 30s working in West London. France has fallen and the capital is being bombed both day and night - it seems against all odds that Britain can survive the onslaught. Almost single-handedly Winston Churchill maintains the country’s morale, with the German enemy convinced that his removal would win them the War. Albert Morrison, a rich widower forced into early retirement by failing eyesight, is stabbed to death in his Chelsea flat.

His only daughter, Ava, tells Trave that she would read the newspapers to him every evening, and the night before his death he had become suddenly excited when she read him an obscure obituary notice. At Morrison’s funeral, Ava learns from an old colleague that her father worked for MI6 before the War. The obituary notice was a coded message preparing for an assassination, although it does not specify the target. Trave realizes that there is a Nazi double agent within MI6, with a plan to assassinate Churchill and to set up another agent to take the blame. He is in a race against time to save Churchill, for if he fails, Britain’s entire war effort could be at stake....

I was hooked from the outset and can only say that Simon Tolkien is a master of his art. This, coupled with exquisite narration by Damian Kell , made 'Orders from Berlin' an absolute joy. Don't hesitate buy this immediately, put your feet up and enjoy.

I loved this book, very good story, well read, gripping till the end. I was unsure about the change in narrator and although it did change the feel of the book it did seem appropriate as the story is told much earlier in Det Trave's life and career. Highly recommended.

This story was sadly disappointing. A good basic idea, but there were so many far fetched matters that it made the whole thing annoying.I find it so difficult to believe that the higher ranks of the Secret Service, AND those of the police would make decisions based on 'personalities', and totally disregard evidence. I wasn't very taken with the characters of the participants either - they were caricatures, and were 'over the top good', or 'over the top bad'.So, so disappointing!